The Impact of the "WOMAN-PRO II Program" on Patients With Vulvar Neoplasia to Minimize Post-surgical Symptom Prevalence

In vulvar neoplasia, even minor surgical interventions cause multiple symptoms, symptom distress and complications, which have an impact on a woman's quality of life and contribute to high health care costs. For the majority of the patients, symptom and distress can be reduced if adequate treatment is provided. This study aims to test possible differences between the impact of standardized care and the WOMAN-PRO II program on symptom prevalence in women with vulvar neoplasia after surgical treatment. In a sequential explanatory mixed-methods project, a randomized phase II study will be followed by a qualitative sub-study. Ninety patients with vulvar neoplasia treated surgically will participate in the randomized trial in four Swiss hospitals and one Austrian hospital. After stratification by precancer/cancer, women will be randomly assigned (1:2 ratio) to standardized care and the WOMAN-PRO II program. The standardized care group will receive a set of information leaflets about supportive care options in the clinic. The WOMAN-PRO II program group will obtain counseling sessions by specially trained gynecology-oncology nurse specialists at the moment of diagnosis, 7 days post-surgery, in week two after discharge, week twelve and week 24 after surgery. The primary outcome of this study is symptom prevalence. Secondary outcomes will be collected for explorative reasons and include symptom distress, uncertainty, quality of life, social support, resilience, quality of care, sociodemographic and medical characteristics, post-surgical complications, functional status, cost evaluation and process outcomes. Quantitative data will be collected at the counseling points of time and analyzed by using mixed linear regression analysis. Twenty interviews will be conducted with women of the WOMAN-PRO II program group. A focus-group interview will be conducted with twelve gynecology-oncology nurse specialists in order to better understand to which degree the interventions meet individual needs as well as to identify remaining barriers and enablers for the implementation of symptom self-management. Qualitative data will be analyzed by using thematic analysis and a critical hermeneutic reflection. This study will evaluate the impact of the WOMAN-PRO II program on symptom prevalence, patient-reported outcomes and clinical parameters, and inform the design of a possible phase III study on the clinical efficacy of the program.

Sex

Female

Minimum age

18 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) or vulvar cancer (primary diagnosis or recurrent neoplasia)
* Surgical treatment of VIN or vulvar cancer in one of the designated hospitals
* Age \> 18

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients being judged by a physician or by a gynecology-oncology nurse specialist as not being capable to participate in the trial and to complete the questionnaire due to cognitive, linguistic, emotionally or physically reasons.
* Patients in concurrently psychiatric treatment
* Terminal illness

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• RESULTSenn B, Mueller MD, Cignacco EL, Eicher M. Period prevalence and risk factors for postoperative short-term wound complications in vulvar cancer: a cross-sectional study. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2010 May;20(4):646-54. doi: 10.1111/IGC.0b013e3181d92723. PMID 20686386
• RESULTSenn B, Eicher M, Mueller MD, Engberg S, Spirig R. [Needs based nursing care in gynecology. "My symptom diary"]. Krankenpfl Soins Infirm. 2012;105(5):32-3. No abstract available. German. PMID 22675922
• RESULTSenn B, Mueller MD, Hasenburg A, Blankenstein T, Kammermann B, Hartmann A, Donovan H, Eicher M, Spirig R, Engberg S. Development of a postsurgical patient-reported outcome instrument for women with vulvar neoplasia. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2012 Nov;39(6):E489-98. doi: 10.1188/12.ONF.E489-E498. PMID 23107862
• RESULTSenn B, Eicher M, Mueller MD, Gafner D, Engberg S, Spirig R. [Development and validation of a patient reported outcome instrument for women with vulvar cancers and surgical treatment - a mixed method study]. Pflege. 2013 Feb;26(1):65-8. doi: 10.1024/1012-5302/a000265. No abstract available. German. PMID 23384847
• RESULTGafner D, Eicher M, Spirig R, Senn B. [Between anxiety and hope: the experiences of women with vulval intraepithelial neoplasia during their illness trajectory - a qualitative approach]. Pflege. 2013 Apr;26(2):85-95. doi: 10.1024/1012-5302/a000273. German. PMID 23535473
• DERIVEDKofler S, Kobleder A, Ott S, Senn B. The effect of written information and counselling by an advanced practice nurse on resilience in women with vulvar neoplasia six months after surgical treatment and the influence of social support, recurrence, and age: a secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized controlled trial, WOMAN-PRO II. BMC Womens Health. 2020 May 6;20(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s12905-020-00965-z.